This is very interesting! I still do not believe TAR would have teams drive through an entire country without a clue box or task. Additionally, what would the first clue say?. Drive yourselves to Neuschwanstien Castle, Germany. That would seem very strange.

The plane possibilities are approximately as given. I want to tailor them to fir the most likely pit stop release times in Torino.

So let's start with Art and JJ. I estimate they would have checked in at 1300 on Dec. 4 and be released Dec. 5 at 0100. They then have 5 hours 40 minutes to get to Torino airport, get tickets to Munich, checkin, kill and board. When they get to Munich, perhaps 15 minutes to get off the plane and out and find marked cars (no doubt FORD FOCUS). That flight EN1705 departed TRN 0640 and arrived MUC 0820. Then 2 hours to drive to Fussen, for a 1020 arrival, 9 hours 20 minutes total.

Next is Rachel and David. They probably checked in around 1500, so their arrival is the same but their total time would be 2 hours shorter than Art and JJ at 7 hours 20 minutes.

The ability of any other teams to get to the Torino airport, ticket, go through security and board EN1705 on time is questionable. Some might have made it and they would have the lowest total time.

All this contrasts with a predictable 6 hours from Torino to Fussen by car, arriving around 0700 for Art and JJ and 0900 for Rachel and David. The unknown is the weather on that day. If driving conditions were below the best required for those mountain roads, then I would have ordered all teams to fly. Maybe they were given the choice, most unusual for the Amazing Race but World Race Productions does try to be unpredictable.

Since the question of weather in Fussen is slightly researchable (the rest of the driving route above Lugano is really not), I did so. December 5 was one of the warmest days in December, high of 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit) and low of -2 degrees Celsius (28 degrees Fahrenheit). It appears that it would have been a fine day for driving.

I have another thing to throw out there. Is it possible that if the teams were to drive, that TAR gives teams the street address to Neuschwanstien Castle and have the Ford Focus use the navigation system to guide the teams, to further advertise the Ford Focus, as with the park assist in the last leg?

However, the caps with Kerri & Stacy show the Travelocity gnome.Vanessa & Ralph also have the the gnome coming out of the car.This leaves Bopper saying, "Yodel-a-hi-hoo," most likely coming after they Yodel (speculated for the speed bump).

We cannot completely rule out a possible flight from Turin to Munich, although I have been outnumbered as the general consensus thinks they drive themselves.

The intermodal method of rail+car transportation to get into Bavaria was pretty interesting. The pit stop time was again designed to assure that Art and JJ were not able to get there in time to get through the Gasthaus zum Raffen, with its hours of operation.

Here are the connections for trains to go from Torino to Innsbruck (note: Innsbruck to Ehrwald will be presented when completed and the car distances after that):

The train trip from Innsbruck to Ehrwald is about 1 hour 50 minutes. Here are the times:

0638 - 0828 There is apparent reason why all teams except Art/JJ should not have been on this train; all arrived in Innsbruck in time.0755 - 09420757 - 09420838 - 10281038 - 12281045 - 12571102 - 12571238 - 14281255 - 14371438 - 1628 I expect Art/JJ made this connection to get to Ehrwald by 1628 but were then stranded at the train station for the night starting Monday Dec. 5.1725 - 19071838 - 2030